Sen. Franken awakens AG Holder to Comcast/NBCU issue

US Attorney General Eric Holder thought he was in a Senate Judiciary hearing about Guantanamo Bay – but Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) took the opportunity to grill the AG about the DOJ review of the proposed merger of Comcast and NBCU. Holder was circumspect, but did confess to being interested as a private citizen thanks to his status as Comcast subscriber.

Franken expressed concerns about the merger, according to a Washington Post Report, including the possibility of setting off a wave of similar mergers between other media giants that could leave the nation with essentially five sources of information.

Holder and his anti-trust leader Christine Varney would only promise vigilant review, until Franken pointed out that the average citizen didn’t understand this issue, that it was about their cable bill.

“Well, now I care. I’m a Comcast subscriber,” said Holder, according to WaPo. “And the fact that you point out it could have an impact on my cable bill has awakened. … You’ve got the A.G. more interested than I was going into this.”